1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and reproducing apparatus, and in particular, relates to an apparatus for recording and reproducing image data on and from a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a VTR (video tape recorder) which records an image signal or an audio signal encoded by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) method is known.
For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-164731 (foreign counterpart United States Patent Publication No. 2004/0091247), an apparatus which performs error-correcting-code process with data corresponding to N tracks as one unit (hereinafter referred to as “ECC (error correcting code) unit”) and records the error-correcting-code processed data is described. Also, three frames are made into an editing unit. Header information which indicates whether a head position (hereinafter referred to as “editing point”) of the editing unit is included in the ECC unit is recorded in a first track of every N tracks.
In cases where a recording start is requested after a user specifies a desired recording start position, the tape having a length corresponding to the tracks of a predetermined number is rewound. Then, the ECC unit including the editing point is detected based on the header information, and recording is started from the detected editing point in the ECC unit
Therefore, in Japanese patent Laid-Open No. 2004-164731, there were problems in that the time for detecting the editing point took a long time and the recording could not be started immediately.